Donald Trump is a wrecking ball. He’s also the master of provocation, and your marketing could learn something from him.
Quick disclaimer before anyone writes me an angry DM. Trump is a polarising character. Right now he’s dragging the global economy through an Iran war most of us didn’t ask for, and plenty of people, me included, think the guy causes more damage than he’s worth.
None of that changes what I’m about to say.
Watch what happens every time he opens his mouth. Half the room erupts. The other half doubles down. The man has built a career on the single principle that being hated by the right people is worth more than being tolerated by everyone.
Now look at your last ten pieces of marketing content.
How much of it was designed to make nobody wince? How many pieces of content went through three rounds of internal review where every opinion got sanded off until the whole thing read like a brochure written by a committee trying not to get fired?
That’s the real villain. Not Trump. That internal voice that says “let’s not risk it” every time a draft gets interesting. The legal team that wants “may” instead of “will”. The GM who asks if we can make it a bit more balanced.
Provocation doesn’t have to mean obnoxious. It’s just being willing to lose the people who were never going to buy anyway.
Now, a caveat. Not every brand should be picking fights. If you sell funeral services, life insurance, or paediatric care, your customer wants reassurance, not a stance. Pick the wrong category and provocation reads as tone deaf.
But if you’re in a crowded category where every competitor sounds the same, beige is the bigger risk.
Look at Liquid Death. Canned water. The most boring product on earth. They launched with the tagline “Murder your thirst,” put heavy metal branding on tall boys, and ran ads mocking the polite wellness aesthetic the entire bottled water category had agreed on. Health influencers hated them. Retail buyers initially refused to stock them. Seven years later they are valued at 1.4 billion dollars, because the people who were always going to buy a smart water were never their customer. Everyone else finally had a water brand that didn’t talk to them like a yoga instructor!
That’s the trade. You lose the tolerant middle, but you gain the committed edge.
You don’t have to be Trump. Please don’t be Trump. But if you’re in a category where every brand sounds the same, you do have to be willing to stand up and stand out.
